“Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without.” ― Confucius
It is impossible to deny the inevitable; Christmas is indeed on its way and as the penultimate week of the term draws to a close, it is quite clear that the festive season is upon us. On Saturday, the Saint Felix Choir made up of students from both the Prep and Senior Departments, sung beautifully at the Southwold Christmas Lights Switch On to an impressive sized audience who were filled with cheer and joy by what they heard. So good was it that they have already been booked in for a repeat performance next year! There will be another chance to hear them at the end of term carol services on Friday 13th December which hopefully you will be able to attend; Prep at 11 a.m. and Seniors at 2 p.m. in St Edmund’s Church in Southwold.
Continuing the musical theme, on Wednesday night, we were fortunate enough to hear an array of talent on display at the Senior Department Winter Music Recital. Some beautifully sung pieces combined with drum performances, piano renditions as well as strings and brass numbers. From rock to classical, and jazz to choral, it was wonderful to see so many students performing in front of an audience made up of their peers, parents, and staff. It is never easy to perform in public and they should all be applauded for their skill and courage. The piece that Charles S co-choreographed and which was played live on BBC Radio 3 is now available on You Tube; it really is a very accomplished and majestic piece; please do have a listen. Click Here.
This half term, our Year 10 GCSE Design Technology students completed a real-world design and make project with Saint Felix PTA as their clients. The PTA needed tokens to be used at events and Year 10, who have been learning how to use the new 3D printers, were keen to help. The PTA gave a brief and a list of requirements for the tokens and Year 10 rewrote this as a formal specification. Next the students came up with a range of different ideas, sketching them out traditionally before using Computer Aided Design software to model the best designs in 3D. When they were happy with their designs, they used the 3D printers rapid prototyping capabilities to make mock-ups in just a few minutes. The students were able to design, print, make changes to the design and reprint, using an iterative design process in just a couple of hours, something that would be impossible without modern technology. Once the students had perfected their designs, the best were passed to the PTA to choose from. I am delighted to hear that the PTA had a hard time picking their favourite, as the designs were all so strong; in the end though, Cyrus L’s design was chosen for a final production run of 200 tokens. Look out for them at the next PTA event.
In the Prep Department, our Rotary partnership certificate arrived last week and was presented to Hugo S in chapel; the introduction of a service spine to our curriculum providing opportunities to support and enhance the local community will increasingly play a key role in the personal and social development of our students. This was so evident when our Year 9 students took the lead on providing Dance Workshops for Years 5 and Year 6 as part of their service programme. Years 3 and 4 played St Joseph’s College at Netball and the gold team drew 3-3 and the green team lost 2-1; two very tight and well contested encounters where Miss Wong noted the high level of focus and passing across both matches. Earlier this week, Year 6 travelled to Burwell House in Cambridge for an exciting literacy trip based on their English topic, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. During lessons, the children had written and learnt news-based scripts with a wizarding theme and a sprinkle of Christmas. The children performed their entertaining wizarding news shows in front of real TV cameras and learnt how to use the technology involved in making a real news broadcast. Year 6 came away with two very entertaining news shows which they can treasure forever and which we all look forward to seeing in due course.
There have been many highlights this week, but the Nativity performance won the day and provided so many moments to treasure. Students from Reception to Year 2 displayed real talent and bravery appearing on stage and putting on such an enjoyable performance for a full theatre. Some excellent singing and choreography made it a joy to watch. A huge thanks goes to Mrs Fox and all those who made it possible.
As the co-curricular programme continues to broaden, Spinning has now been introduced. An excellent way to ensure high impact cardiovascular workouts for our students to keep them fir but also to energise them during their school day. Over the next two terms and beyond, the intention is clear to introduce more opportunities as part of this fantastic programme.
The final newsletter of the term next week will also act as my end of term letter; I cannot thank you all enough for your continued support of the school and everything that we are aiming to achieve.
Have a lovely weekend!
Yours sincerely,
Matthew Oakman
Head
